Since it's Aliens RPG, I think the main purpose(?) is most likely survival. However, I'd like to see a more likable and interesting setting for the main character. Talking of the setting, selectable backgrounds which influence on the main (and sub if possible) plot(s) would be nice.

Edited November 21, 200718 yr by Wombat

No doubt. But need survival automatically translate as "abandoned alone on a scary ship/planet with no way to contact help"? The story needn't start out as a quest for survival. Indeed, the best games/films are ones which start off with a false sense of serenity, peace or hope. Hell the first alien movie definitely fits that mold.

 

So, if the game sees it fit for the scary survival factor to present itself after some introductions or setting establishment phase, I see no problem. Like... you somehow discover a cure for your deadly disease lies in a lab in a mysteriously abandoned facility. You do some stuff, then travel there and OH NOES! The cure plot is purely for the purposes of illustration, you understand.

 

I especially appreciate the illusion that you're not alone and have an ally or buddies just shortly down the track, or nearby... only to have them die one by one, or lose contact (or you have to leave them behind), or run off. Starting off alone and remaining alone is just lame.

I especially appreciate the illusion that you're not alone and have an ally or buddies just shortly down the track, or nearby... only to have them die one by one, or lose contact (or you have to leave them behind), or run off. Starting off alone and remaining alone is just lame.

 

That's done really well in SS2. It always seemed like you were about to catch up to someone still alive but never actually did. I practically cried when

Delacroix died.

 

 

*spoiler tags respectfully added by Walsingham*

I felt the same way.

Hell even at the end, of the two you knew about who actually escaped, one of them was hijacked by SHODAN and the other presumably slaughtered. Poor Tommy.

 

 

Half-Life (1, not 2) also pulled this off to a certain extent. It was always nice to be walking down a corridor, only to turn down a side alley and see a scientist getting pulled feet first into a vent/duct screaming. The scientists you did meet often got shot up by marines, and then the marines got eaten by aliens. Or you had to leave them behind and find out a bit later that the area was flooded with toxic radiation or gung-ho marines.

 

I actually think that's one of the flaws of Half-Life 2. We don't want any of this team-based support crap. The idea is that you're alone scared ****less, in it for your own survival... not bravely doing it to save the world. HL2 is a nice game but it's not what I expected.

 

I need to stop going on tangents.

Some great ideas in this thread!

How about this: the whole point of the game is to save your skin, not the rest of the galaxy's, just yours.

I think that's kinda what Pidesco's been saying.

Yeah, pretty much.

I kinda skipped to page 3 though, so I wouldn't really know.

I kinda skipped to page 3 though, so I wouldn't really know.

 

Very wise.

As far as the aliens universe goes though, I agree with the points above, the theme of the films has ALWAYS been getting out alive, the methods used and who lives and who dies.

 

This is almost bread and butter to Alien the same way that TEH CHOSEN ONE is to RPGs.

Edited December 26, 200718 yr by Gorth
Removing a bit of the aggressiveness

I'll just throw another plainly obvious desire into the thread:

 

Don't forget the MYSTARY!

 

Even in the very scientific world of Aliens, I like to explore world/quests with constantly having questions and fantasies in my mind. No mindless A to B romp please.

 

Bad example: NWN2 OC

Good example: MOTB

Whatever.

 

Thing is, even the idea of saving your own life, and not saving the galaxy is still not that new... but better than "chosen ones" and "prophecies".

Also, it better have some sort of twist in the middle of the game which changes everything.

Edited November 30, 200718 yr by WILL THE ALMIGHTY

You mean, like, you're actually a cheese?

No. You're the CHOSEN CHEESE!!!

Edited December 1, 200718 yr by WILL THE ALMIGHTY

No. You're the CHOSEN CHEESE!!!

 

I disagree with everyone on the family issue. While an entire nuclear family may be excessive. There's nothing wrong with a brother or a sister. Aliens basically created a family within the framework of the movie. Ripley became mother to Neut, which created motivation for her to brave the hive, alone, and while it was about to explode to rescue the girl.

 

The key is not whether or not you have a family. It's whether or not the developers allow enough significant interaction with them that you care about their fate. This can be done with any sort of NPC: family, friend, fellow marine, etc...

 

For the RPG world, you could have an optional quest to save your brother/close friend in a similar manner. Perhaps they wouldn't even be captured by aliens but rather by W-Y scientists looking for hosts for their first Aliens to experiment with. That would be dramatic. Think about the time pressure on that one.

I'm totally digging the mercenary idea. If we can play an scientific like merc, then it might even make sense to try go Burke-esque style and capture an alien for "research purposes": Morally reprehensible corporations need only apply.

Edited December 26, 200718 yr by Gorth
Removing a bit of the aggressiveness

HL2 captured the emotional bond to a non-protagonist computer character pretty well with Alyx-Gordon.

 

But they had linearity, FPS 3D, a facial expression algorithm, and lack of other prominent characters vying for the player's attention.

Well now, lots of Christmas spirit in here I see. But thankfully, I got a prunestick under my tree last night. (And so did Gorth, it seems. Hah.)

 

I shouldn't think we need be reduced to throwing monkeys and handbags over such a small kink - let's not get our witticisms get out of hand.

 

You know, the family members / NPCs you care for idea has an inherent conundrum it must one way or another overcome - that, family or friend or whatever, players aren't likely to respond well or attach themselves to characters that are lumped together with the PC. The player has to be given two reasons to want the particular NPC(s) around; one, a clear story-indication that they are beneficial to you or must be protected; two, a practical manifestation of that indication. e.g. Imoen achieves 'one', but if your party doesn't need a mage-thief, then 'two' is not fulfilled, which is why I rarely bothered about Imoen, while others did. I wonder, perhaps, it is possible for your role in the family, or friend group, or whatever, to increase as time goes by. Early on, as the youngest member of the family or of the mercenary party, you NEED those NPCs to survive and to go places; as time passes, some of them die, and so forth, you emerge as the leader and guiding light of that group, and simultaneously the game has you choose who to protect, who to let go, who to sacrifice. Hopefully, that means you eventually end up with a group you have more or less chosen, and thus have an attachment to.

Thread pruned a bit. No reason to get personal about it

RAISE THREAD!!!!

 

So, I just reread this thread and started thinking about the whole family idea, and thought of the following to solve the problems of creating an attachment between the player and his game family:

 

How about if the game had a character creation system for the whole family? The player(s) create(s) the father, the mother and two kids from scratch, and pick(s) which one of them he want to play from the start. If the player(s) want(s) co-op, each player picks and creates one of the family members.

 

Now, character creation would effectively decide how the game plays out. The age of each family member could alter the storyline and the combat, for example. The player should have the option to create a 9 year old son, for instance, who would be a burden, much like the chick that goes around with you in RE4. On the other hand, the option to create an ass kicking, gun toting 20 year old daughter should also be available. Or perhaps the wife could be carrying around a baby girl on her back while shotgunning aliens into oblivion. And all of this would affect the gameplay and storyline.

 

It might be a great twist on traditional squad based combat and, through co-op, it could literally be a game for the whole family!

I see you were not lying when you said that drugs and booze are easy to come by in Portugal.

 

zing!

I'm moving to Portugal!

 

P.S.: This isn't the sims, Pid, no matter how much you say the Sims was an RPG.

Your failure to recognize the awesomeness of my ideas will one day come back to haunt you.

 

Bunch of philistines, the lot of you. Or rather, the two of you.